Some volunteers working in a Texas state park recently ran into a mass of dark, squirming “creepy critters,” and managed to take a video leaving people wondering what the strange, moving blob was.
“What IS this?” Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials asked the public in a Facebook post on Friday, June 11, 2021.
The video shows tiny, wormlike creatures all moving together in the same direction like something straight from a sci-fi movie.
These strange-looking creatures were quickly identified, so any fears of an alien life form on Earth can be put to rest.
“These are the larvae of fungus gnats, small flies found around soil,” the TPWD wrote in their caption. “The larvae feed on fungi and decaying plant material. They can damage young plants by eating the roots.”
Still creepy.
Female flies live for about 10 days and can lay up to 300 eggs in that time, according to Texas A&M University, and eggs hatch within 3 to 5 days. Larvae emerge and immediately begin feeding right away on soil and roots.
After about 10 days they turn into pupae, then transform into flies after four days. While these particular insects have a short life cycle, they rapidly reproduce in huge numbers like as seen in the video.
If you haven’t had enough, be sure to check out the even bigger procession of fungal larvae in the video below.